Automated dialing techniques for multi-operator telephone systems are well-known in the prior art. Such systems typically include a control circuit for automatically establishing telephone connections through a plurality of telephone lines and for providing dialing of telephone calls to prospects over such lines. When a call is successfully made, a non-busy operator is selected and the operator is connected to the called line. The operator's time is therefore not consumed with the dialing of telephone numbers and the resulting time loss associated with busy and unanswered lines. One such system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,493 to Cave.
Multi-line telephone control systems such as shown in the Cave patent seek to maximize operator utilization by establishing a predetermined dialing rate and then adjusting this rate according to a number of factors. For example, the system increases the dialing rate (by increasing the number of lines or by reducing the pause between outgoing calls) if there are a number of available operators. Alternatively, the system decreases the dialing rate (by pausing between calls or by stopping calls on a line) if the number of customers who are being placed on hold for an operator becomes excessive. However, because these schemes adjust dialing rate as opposed to the number of calls currently in progress, they cannot react promptly to short-term deviations from average performance. Such schemes thus produce both more unattended calls and operator down-time than desired.
There is therefore a need for an improved method and apparatus for automated dialing in a multi-operator telephone system which overcomes these and other problems associated with prior art techniques.